This piece is part of my 2016–2026 archive migration. Some original formatting, content, and external links may be missing, changed, or not be optimized.
How your habits manifest your financial reality
“In the modern world, your interactions with tyranny are a bit more voluntary than they were in ancient times. We put up with our controlling boss, though we could probably get a different job if we wanted. We change how we dress or refrain from saying what we actually think. Because we want to fit in with some cool group. We put up with cruel critics or customers. Because we want their approval. In these cases, their power exists because of our wants. You change that, and you’re free.” – The Daily Stoic, p 130
Tantalus: The highest power is –
Thyestes: No power, if you desire nothing.” – Seneca, Thyestes, 440
Thing Driven Vs. Experience Driven
People wake up daily to earn money at jobs they hate or don’t enjoy so they can buy the things they don’t need. Instead of building the life they desire, many focus on buying things they desire.
Our culture tends to be “Thing-Driven” versus “Experience-Driven” or “Fulfillment-Driven.”
Instead of focusing on fulfillment, we want to buy the car, the house, the clothes, the shoes, the jewelry, the tech gadgets, the convenient services, the subscriptions, the recreational drugs, alcohol, food, and whatever else you’re into.
What are all of these desires? Meaningless and never-ending pursuits that lead to nowhere.
Questioning Your Desires
How often do you question your desires?
I do my best to curb desires that require financial resources. There are things I want, but I aim to limit the list.
Why? The more you desire, the more pricey your lifestyle can become, but you also subject yourself to the trappings of materialism. When you desire less, you have more resources at your disposal.
Furthermore, I aim to delay purchases as long as possible. When you delay purchases long enough, you become awakened to what you truly need and desire most. If you wait long enough, you’ll notice many desires come and go and become forgotten.
Back to my original question: How often do you question your desires? Moreover, how often do you delay purchases and mull them over?
Most of you act on impulse.
You’re at an event with free food, dessert, or alcohol. You engage without thinking because it looks good and it’s available.
You see the new iPhone is coming out, so you pre-order it without taking a pause and realizing the features don’t outperform last year’s features by that much.
You meet someone that aligns with you in every way (it seems) and jump straight in without taking the time to get to know them and notice the red flags that later come to bite you in the ass.
We’re emotional creatures. We don’t like pain. We want to avoid it at all costs because pain hurts. Many of us are dopamine addicts.
Pain, restraint, and discipline are foreign because most people want it now and want it all.
It’s why people gamble and play the lottery. They want to impulsively try and get a quick fix for all their woes instead of rolling up their sleeves and investing some real thought into how they could transform their financial lives.
Without Questioning, You Are Not In Control
I started questioning my desires early on. I recall that, in college, there were two wallets I earnestly wanted to buy. I thought about the purchases for a long while. Ultimately, I ended up getting those wallets and using them for years on end. But I never bought another wallet in my life after that. I ended up trading one of those wallets for my sister’s older one, which I still use today.
After a while, I realized, I don’t need all this sh*t. I don’t need to upgrade my phone every year. I don’t need to drive the newest car. I don’t need to look like money. I don’t need to put my life on blast. I don’t need to live a certain way because I earn a certain way. I don’t need to engage in pricey vices that will only suck my money dry. I don’t need all that bullsh*t that many people gravitate to; it’s all meaningless.
I want to be in control.
I want to build wealth.
I want to have resources.
One way to build wealth and stay in control of my desires is to obliterate them or never act on them.
I’ve been a minimalist since I was a kid, but I started giving more stuff away as the years went by. The less you desire and own, the more control you have, and the higher your opportunity is to increase your wealth.
Desires Make You A Servant
Are You Free Or Enslaved?
This content is for informational purposes only — not professional advice. Consult a qualified professional before making any major decisions.